CEJA, the European Council of Young Farmers, is calling on legislators to follow through on a commitment to achieve fairer more stanble incomes in agriculture, particularly when it comes to Unfair Trading Practices (UTPs).
On Tuesday (December 10), the European Commission published its legislative proposals to strengthen farmers’ position in the agri-food supply chain and enhance cross-border enforcement against UTPs.
The proposals were announced by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in March 2024 as a reaction to farm protests, and supported by the Strategic Dialogue on the future of agriculture.
CEJA has said they offer concrete tools to farmers on the fronts of cooperation and contractualisation, including long-term demands from young farmers.
Young farmers still have questions
CEJA has said that some question marks remain open, however, particularly regarding enforcing rules against(UTPs, whose challenges go beyond cross-border considerations.
CEJA’s vice-president Elisabeth Hiden commented on the developments: “The lack of certainty surrounding the access to fair and stable incomes is one of the main obstacles to generational renewal in EU agriculture.
“With these proposals, the commission addresses some of the levers we have identified to address the asymmetry of information and pressure on prices that impede new generations to make a decent living, hence build viable activities.”
The proposed revision of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) puts forward what CEJA has described as “interesting” measures for young farmers.
These include enhanced cooperation between farmers and support to new generations to take part in it; mandatory written contracts with options for renegotiation; and integration of socio-economic objectives into sustainability agreements among other elements.
Additional attention is given to crisis management measures which CEJA said is in line with its core priority in the EU mandate ahead.
The young farmers’ council added that further work will be needed on the latter, with interrogations linked to the upcoming Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform.
On the front of the fight against UTPs, the EU’s executive chooses to focus on operationalising cross-border cooperation between national enforcement bodies.
CEJA said that while better cooperation between member states is needed, “the variations between national transpositions, the lack of insurance on the anonymity of complainants, as well as the inclusion of selling below costs into the grey list of UTPs, remain necessary debates for the future”.
The organisation said it would maintain its high level of ambition for the future in the Directive and intends to contribute to the evaluation report scheduled for the end of 2025.
“Europe’s young farmers invite legislators to maintain their level of commitment to achieve fairer, more stable incomes in agriculture, and to make the revisions of the CMO regulation and UTP directive smooth and efficient,” CEJA concluded.